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California Gardening: What's up?

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Ahh, the garden is one of my favorite spots during the summer time! We live in Southern California (Near LA), so we have nice summers, and mild winters.

Vegetables

~Tomatoes: 12 plants in all- 5 Celebrity (standard red), 4 Mr. Stripey (huge yellow/orange bi-colored fruit, 1 Evergreen (green even when ripe), 1 Black Krim (purplish, almost black), 1 San Marzano Roma, 2 tomatillos (ok, not really a tomato, but close enough ) The celebs are already ripening. Delicious! We planted them in 2 stages, so that we can have an extended harvest from July to September

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I have fruit envy! We have no fruit trees yet, although it's my dream to plant a semi-circle of dwarf fruit around the house someday . . .

Has anyone else gotten a late start this spring? We usually get around 24" of rain in an entire year, and so far we've gotten over 40" ! I gave up on my usual 1/2 acre patch this year--vineyard work was delayed and I missed the window between too wet and too hot--so I only have the garden beds near the house to tend this year.

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You know we are generally spoiled with the ability to grow a lot of things by just dropping them in the ground. Most of my tomato plants are volunteers from my first crop 5 years ago. They just keep coming up. No fertilizer no bug spray - except for THIS YEAR!!!!! Everything is so screwed up with our loney weather. The only thing that is going great guns are the herbs. Basel, bumper crop this year. Everything else is way behind.

Even the farmers markets up here don't have the greatest garden tomatoes. Although the fava beans have been excellent!

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My mom's tomatoes are coming in full force. Her yellow cherry tomato plant has fruit that is just now turning.

She planted an heirloom this year (she's not sure of the name...my brother gave it to her) and she says the tomatoes on it are the largest she's grown in years. She called them "monsters" since they're so big. The plant is heavy with fruit but they haven't turned yet.

She has one tomato plant that's about done and will plant another soon so she will have tomatoes clear through October provided the weather stays nice.

My brother's chile pepper plants (he planted about 8 varieties this year) are putting out a lot of pods. His squash and Japanese egg plant are producing quite a bit, too.

As for flowers, he also planted tuberose (they have a great fragrance) and they're coming along like gangbusters.

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Summer is over. Tomatoes are still going strong, and the yellow pear tomatoes I planted around the compost bin are very happy. Due to our late, wet spring I didn't plant as large a garden as I would have liked, so instead of summer bedding flowers in the half barrels in front of the winery, I planted leftover garden seeds. Now I have a nice autumnal look in the half barrels, with tomatoes, tomatillos, squash and gourds, baby corn, nasturtium, marigolds, celosia, and few stray petunias all "squashed" together and spilling over the barrels.

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We've enjoyed some bountiful gifts this past week. Thank you to Ted and Nancy Commerdinger for the incredible tomato sauces and five-pepper sauce! The basket below was delivered by Kate Dubost from her garden. The basket weighed 35 pounds! I did some consulting work for Dubost Family Winery and instead of a fee, I will be treated to garden produce, their ranch olive oil (very floral), and some cuts of spring lamb. Dan groused about my taking on extra projects, but he was first to dig into the basket.

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Yes, which I thought was a nice touch! The French Colombard grapes were sweet and incredibly fragrant . . . floral and orange rind aromas. Tons of tomatoes, peppers, squash, a bundle of herbs, and rainbow chard. I got a basket last week, too.

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On Saturday I was rushing home from errands, and as I came around a corner on Vineyard Drive about 500 yds. south of home, I saw Mollie and just had to stop.

Mollie, age seven, was wearing her hat, apron and sunglasses. When I came around the corner, a breeze blew her sign backwards and she was struggling valiantly to righten her hat, sunglasses and sign all at the same time. I had to turn around and come back, but it was certainly worth it. Her bright yellow cart was well stocked with two varieties, "big tomatoes," and "cherry tomatoes," for $2.25 per pound or basket. Her dad had put blue price stickers on the scale to help her figure out prices.

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All the dried beans are harvested and ready for the winter. Summer squash is slowing down but we're still getting a zucchini or pattypan every now and then. The winter squash are almost ready to bring in - a couple of pumpkins need a little more time in the sun, as do about half of the butternut squash. Peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, and basil are still going strong. Most of the winter garden is planted: the chard, carrots, turnips, beets, spinach, lettuce, artichokes, peas, cabbage, bok choy, brussel sprouts, garlic, onions, broccoli, romanesco, and cauliflower are all in the ground. We still need to plant potatoes, shallots, fava beans, and a bit more garlic.

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I have a guava tree in a pot that needs a better home, ditto a passion fruit vine (here's hoping its purple fruit, not yellow). If we can defeat the iceplant, we have a spot picked out for the passion fruit vine. The guava tho remains in limbo. Does it have invasive root habits? (note to self, must google...)

The apple and plum trees are in flower. The peach tree has already set fruit. I hope all the recent rain doesnt hurt it.

Does anyone know or have an opinion on which squash produces the best tasting blossoms? Im inclined to plant one vine, just for the flowers. Should it be zucchini, crookneck, or other?

I am SO blonde this morning.

Editted to add:

I'm thinking of planting scarlet runner beans too. I probably wont get to it, but it would be fun to have.

Her favorites the last few years have been either the generic Cherry Tomatoes or the small Yellow Pears. She eats them like candy.

She used to plant in the ground behind her home but they never did very well since it was the north side and didn't get much sun until the height of summer and even then that didn't last long enough. So now she plants in pots that she can move to track with the sun. The tomatoes have been doing great in the pots.

My brother preps her pot soil every year and will give her interesting new varieties to try. Last year he gave her an heirloom (he didn't tell her the name) that grew tomatoes as ugly as sin but tasted heavenly. They were as large as beefsteaks and were quite meaty. I'm not sure if she will get the same from him this year.

The nice thing about San Diego weather is that if you stagger your plantings, you can have tomatoes clear through to October and sometimes to November.

Oh, and she has wild varmints to contend with who like to snack on her tomatoes. She lives next to a part of the Mission Trails Regional Park and has everything from rats and raccoons to deer and quail trying to nosh on her plants.

There are community gardens all over San Francisco. There are 5 or 6 in Bernal Heights alone. Not sure about Noe Valley; but, I'm pretty sure there are some in Glenn Park. I belong to the Ogden Terrace Garden, which is on Ogden Street, overlooking the Alemany Farmers' Market.

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Does anyone know or have an opinion on which squash produces the best tasting blossoms? Im inclined to plant one vine, just for the flowers. Should it be zucchini, crookneck, or other?

I haven't thought about different blossom flavors, but I like to plant a selection of squash and pumpkin, because I like the larger blossoms for stuffing.

I failed to get my own tomato starts going in the greenhouse this year, so I'll be relying on tomato plants to get my garden started this year. Any recommendations for local tomato plants? Someone who will ship?

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Does anyone know or have an opinion on which squash produces the best tasting blossoms? Im inclined to plant one vine, just for the flowers. Should it be zucchini, crookneck, or other?

I haven't thought about different blossom flavors, but I like to plant a selection of squash and pumpkin, because I like the larger blossoms for stuffing.

I failed to get my own tomato starts going in the greenhouse this year, so I'll be relying on tomato plants to get my garden started this year. Any recommendations for local tomato plants? Someone who will ship?

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Bought another Early Girl and a Brandywine tomato plant today.Also another blue potato "All Blue" (the ones I already planted came from Trader Joe's - they grew like gangbusters last year but are moving slower this year). Also, I couldnt resist a tuberrose ?bulb?corm?.

These are destined to be planted tomorrow. These came from City Farmers Nursery, Home Ave at Euclid. Interesting place - this was my first but not last visit. The building adjoins Frank's Cafe, so we'll be back for lunch - acc the Mr, the menu looked good but we had no time today.

The basil seed is sprouting, but the cilantro isnt. Anyone know how long it usually takes cilantro to germinate? <google says 7-10 days> The seed brusselsprouts appear to be coming up too (or could be weeds. Those had some garden soil in the pot).

The garlic is going great guns. I hope it stopped long enough to put down some roots!